Face Mask Purse

 

I ran into a number of face masks at a store that were marked down to 18 cents for two.  I couldn't pass that deal up, especially when I saw this idea for cute little girls purses on Facebook!  

Materials:

• 1 Adult cloth face mask
• Thread and needle
• Embellishments that match

Steps:

1. Fold the face mask in half
2. Sew up both sides with the needle and thread
3. Sew embellishments on

Crochet Beaded Necklaces

 These necklaces are relatively simple to make and depending on the colors, could be for a boy or a girl.

Materials:

• Approximately 30 Beads
• Size 5 crochet thread/cotton
• A needle
• Crochet hook

Steps:

1. Use the needle to thread the beads onto the crochet cotton
2. Chain 3 stitches
3. Add a bead in the next stitch by sliding it up to the hook and incorporating it in the yarn over
4. Chain 6 stitches
5. Repeat steps 3-4 until no more beads remain
6. Chain 3 stitches
7. Finish off
8. Knot the tail to the beginning tail
9. Use the needle to weave in the ends

Simple Memory Wire Bracelet

These are really simple bracelets that can be worn by a wide range of ages.  I bought my memory wire and the memory wire pliers together off Amazon.  I've heard that trying to cut memory wire with regular pliers will damage the pliers so I bought specific ones designed for memory wire.  The wire comes in loops already so there is memory wire designed for bracelets and some for other size projects (rings, necklaces, etc).

Materials:

• Memory Wire
• Memory Wire pliers
• Beads (seed beads or a little bigger work well)
• Needle Nose Pliers

Steps:

1. Using the Memory Wire pliers, cut off a section of memory wire. I do about a round and a half. You can certainly do more loops, but I wanted to maximize the number of bracelets I could make.
2. Use the Needle Nose pliers to add a small loop at the one end.
3. Add the beads until there's a little under a centimeter of wire left
4. Use the Needle Nose pliers to add a small loop at the end.

Waffled Cheesesteaks

You've probably heard of Meatless Monday and Taco Tuesday, but have you heard of Waffled Wednesday?  I came up with the idea of Waffled Wednesday after I was looking for ideas for my meal plan and my husband asked "What haven't we waffled?" I thought maybe I was original with coming up with this idea, but it turns out I'm not the first. Oh well.  

For the First Waffled Wednesday in our house, I took my husband's suggestion and did waffled cheesesteaks.

Ingredients:

Pizza Dough (I used this recipe)

1 pound ground meat (I used turkey)

1 green pepper - diced

1 onion - diced

1 cup sliced mushrooms

1 cup beef broth

1 T flour

1 c mozzarella - shredded

ground black pepper

olive oil

flour

1. Brown the ground turkey with the onion, green pepper and mushrooms until meat is no longer pink.
2. Add the flour and stir then add the broth
3. Cook until thickened
4. Plug in your waffle iron to preheat
5. Dust the counter with flour and roll a portion of the dough out so that it is about twice the size of your waffle iron you want it to be about the thickness of a thin pizza crust.
6. Put some meat filling on half of the pizza crust
7. Top with cheese
8. Fold over the other half of the dough and roll up the edges (the "top" will be the side where the edges are rolled)
9. Brush the top with olive oil
10. Flip it on to a plate, pizza peel (or something similar) so that the oiled side is down.
11. Brush the bottom side with oil
12. Flip it onto your waffle iron so that the top is up again (by doing it this way, if anything cooks out of the edges it is less likely to stick to the waffle iron)
    
    
    
13. Close the waffle iron and cook it until the dough is done. If your waffle iron is like mine, you may need to flip it over so that the side near the hinge changes because that side cooks faster than the outer edge.  If you need to do that, wait until the dough is cooked enough to be crisp/firm.
14. Repeat with the rest of the dough and filling. 

Tip: Put the finished Cheesesteaks on a cookie sheet in a warm oven to keep warm while you make the rest.

All Good Things Must Come to an End

The final Iron Craft Challenge was announced a few weeks ago. I knew it would happen eventually, I was just hoping for another year though so that I could participate a little more.  Unfortunately, much like my blogging, my crafting has taken the back seat to other things in my life lately.

However, after doing so many of the Iron Craft Challenges, I couldn't let this last final one go uncompleted, especially given that it occurred over the holidays when I actually had a bit of time to craft!  So, even though I was out of town, I headed to Joann Fabrics and picked up some supplies to work on the challenge.

Originally I was going to do a bracelet to wear New Years Eve when I went out to dinner.  I was thinking something similar to this only crocheted.  So I found this lace pattern and set to work.

However, after I got it completed and blocked, I decided that I didn't really like it as a bracelet. I think it's actually better suited as a bookmark.

So, there you have it. My final Iron Craft Challenge project.  I'm sad to see the challenge end. I loved the idea of it and enjoyed seeing what everyone created.  It surprised me that I reached a point where I could recognize someone's crafts just from the picture without seeing their name attached to it.  So while I will miss the challenges, I understand that it's time for it to end and I thank the ladies at Just Crafty Enough for all their work.

Ear pins

A few weeks ago the ladies over at JustCraftyEnough.com had a green challenge for the IronCraft challenge.

I took this opportunity to make some ear pins after having seen some on pinterest.  They were actually quite quick to make.

I took two bead pins with flat heads, threaded my beads on and then bent them.

So you put them on like regular earrings and then turn them so the wire clips them against your ear to hold them in place.

Maybe some day, I'll be up to making some like these.

WFMW: Weekly Bible Verse

As part of my goals for the new year, I'm doing something each week to help bring my kids closer to God.  This week, we started a weekly Bible verse for them to memorize.  We've had them in the past, that they've brought home from church, but it often was just added to the stack of papers on the table.

So, I've decided to make it more visible for us by using a dry erase marker and writing on our sliding glass door. (Our blinds are in between the glass).

Is it the perfect solution? Not really, there's a lot of glare during dinner when we're reading it because of the light) but it's working for us until I find something better.  It is right next to the kitchen table where we can all see it though. The girls have almost memorized this verse and my husband has picked out next week's verse.

Do you display a weekly verse for your family? How do you do it?

For more great ideas, check out the Works for Me Wednesday link up at We are THAT Family.

To follow my new years' goals check out Five for the New Year.